Springside Kindergarten is a sessional kindergarten offering three four year old groups and two groups of three year old sessions. A qualified kindergarten teacher along with qualified educators make up the teaching teams for every group.
A bit about us
Springside Kindergarten was established in 2009 to cater for the growing needs of the Melton Shire community. The kindergarten is situated on the same grounds as Springside Primary School and therefore holds a well-built connection with the school.
Our strong collaboration enables the kindergarten to build positive partnerships for both our families and children. Regardless of which school your child will attend after kinder, the connection to a school environment, it’s facilities and students, helps children establish a sense of belonging to a larger community. During transitions, the kindergarten works with your child’s enrolled school with all parties seeing the benefits of prior engagement to a school environment.
Springside Kindergarten is extremely proud of its ‘EXCEEDING RATING’ after being assessed by ACECQA in March 2021. This is the second consecutive exceeding rating that the service has been awarded. The kindergarten works diligently to ensure we meet the current Education and Care Services National Regulations 2011, Education and Care Services National Law Act 2012 and the Kindergarten Guide whilst incorporating the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework into our everyday programming.
Our Team
Springside Kindergarten’s team is made up of a range of passionate and dedicated people. Our partnership with Springside Primary School is integral to our operations and the kindergarten is fortunate to have a range of professionals from the school supporting your child’s learning and development throughout the year. The Springside Primary School Parent Council, as well as the Parents Association, work in collaboration with the kindergarten to ensure quality teaching and learning as well as partnerships with families and the community.
Each member of the kindergarten staff has an Early Childhood specific qualification and participates in ongoing professional development. All members of staff have current First Aid Certificates as well as training in CPR and the management of Anaphylaxis and Asthma, OH&S and Child Safe Training.
Governance Structure
SPRINGSIDE PS PRINCIPAL AND KINDERGARTEN PMC: Gabrielle Zorko
KINDERGARTEN NOMINATED SUPERVISOR AND EDUCATIONAL LEADER: Samantha Pascoe
SPRINGSIDE KINDERGARTEN APPROVED PROVIDER: Springside Primary School Council
Our Philosophy
The child
We value children as active and competent citizens who are responsible to take action for their own learning when provided the right opportunities. Through respectful relationships, high expectations and positive feedback children are able to develop a strong sense of self and ability.
We develop each child’s sense of “Belonging, Being and Becoming” by viewing the child holistically. When developing the curriculum, we ensure to encompass all children’s sense of identity and wellbeing, foster connections with the world, and create confident and involved learners with effective communication. We support this by providing play spaces of natural and manufactured materials that are reflective of their world, the child, the family, the imaginary and the creative.
We understand that children develop best when focusing on their strengths and areas of interest. As professional Educators, we are aware of the learning outcomes of these interests and extend upon these areas through intentional teaching and a termly inquiry focus.
The family
We value families as the child’s first educator and work collaboratively with them to provide experiences that reflect and extend on their own home life. We acknowledge and respect all families’ cultures and aim to gather and provide information to ensure that our kindergarten programs are inclusive and cater for all individuals.
As professional Educators, we document the children’s learning journey through a range of documentation tools to gain a holistic view of the child. We encourage families to access this documentation with their children via the use of Educa to support conversations and extensions at home. Acknowledging families as the child’s first educator, we support families to also document their child’s learning and development with the use of Educa.
We aim to provide a personal, happy, family atmosphere where parents, community members and organizations feel welcomed and encouraged to participate whenever possible to bridge the gap between home, the Kindergarten, School and the Community.
The educator
We aim to be leaders in the industry promoting high quality educational programs, which reflect the National Quality Standards and the Early Years Learning Framework to maintain our Exceeding National Quality Standard.
Our educators form a professional learning and collaborative team committed to welcoming all families and children to our service. We aim to make all children’s experience at the Kindergarten fun and educational. Educators endeavor to develop strong relationships and bonds with the children and families in their care.
Educators devise a fortnightly curriculum to foster innovation, discovery and learning on a termly inquiry topic. The fortnightly curriculum is developed in an ongoing manner to enhance children’s questions, interests, and unique social, emotional, physical and cognitive skills.
Educators support children to be Respectful in all areas of the program, Optimistic of their own learning and ability, Responsible for their actions and to strive for Excellence within what they do. These values are reflected in our daily practices and all learning opportunities.
The environment
We are committed to maintaining a child safe environment by ensuring all educators have the most current knowledge regarding the Child Safe Standards.
We promote a sustainable lifestyle which sees the kindergarten environment considering environmental issues such as conservation of water, recycling of food waste and considering alternative uses for materials rather than discarding them. Children are encouraged to contribute to their natural environment through taking responsibility for the worm and compost along with caring for planted vegetables and fruits. Children explore all aspects of the natural environment, all year round. This is achieved through indoor and outdoor play in both sunshine and rain. As part of a sustainable lifestyle we strongly encourage a healthy eating approach, with regards to the contents of children’s lunch boxes. We believe in providing calm, progressive snack times allowing children the opportunity to converse and enjoy the company of others while eating. We believe that by coming together for lunch as a community is also just as important for our children to engage with one another.
Reviewed July 2022, to be reviewed July 2023